ADDEESS 



OF ; 

HON. CHARLES H: BELL. 




FLAti OF THE 
SHOWIXa THE STAXD MADE BT SI 




TLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

■S AND EEED S NEW nA.MPSHIRE EEGIMEXTS. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN. 



At the top appears the M3-stic River. 

At the right is Moiilton's (or Morton's) Point, where the British 
troops fii=st landed and formed. 

Extending downward from the shore of the M^'stic, on the left, 
appear the rail fences, behind wliich were posted in their order 
Col. Stark's New Hampshire Regiment, Col. Reed's New Hamp- 
shire Regiment, and Capt. Knowlton's Connecticut companies. 

In front of the rail fences are represented the eleven companies 
of British- Grenadiers, in line, advancing to the attack; and on 
the beach of the M3'stic River the eleven companies of British 
Light Infantr3-, marching with a narrow front, in their attempt to 
flank the American left. The numbers of the Regiments to which 
the Light Infantrj- companies severally belonged are given in the 
figures, as in the Plan of De Berniere. 

The Light Infantry company of the Thirty-Fifth Regiment 
appears both on the river beach and on the higher bank at the 
right of the Grenadiers. It is supposed that in one attack it 
occupied one position and in the other attack a different one. 

Below the rail fences and a little at their right appear the earth- 
works of Col. Prescott. 

Charlestown neck is not represented on the plan. It would be 
much further to the left. 



<»0 

0- 



§ 



^ ADDRESS. 

2? 



Gentlemen of the Association : 

I GLADLY avail myself of the privilege afforded me by the 
courteous invitation of your President, of appearing before 
you on this interesting anniversary to ask your attention to 
an account of the particular services rendered by the men of 
New Hampshire in the battle of Bunker Hill. Since the 
foundation of your Association a flood of light has been cast 
by the researches of historians upon the momentous events 
of the Seventeenth of June, 1775 ; and though there has been 
some conflict of testimony on minor matters' connected with 
the Battle, yet on all points of real consequence the trust- 
worthy authorities are substantially in accord, so that it is 
not difficult now for an impartial narrator to assign to each 
of the three colonies that furnished the combatants something 
near its just share in the transactions of the day. 

This first deliberate trial of strength in the field of arms 
between the American colonists and the British soldiery has 
naturally been a favorite theme for speakers and writers. It 
is my misfortune, that, in order to point out the precise nature 
and extent of the service performed by the New Hampshire 
forces in the Battle, I must go prosaically over a part of the 
story that has been again and again told with all the force of 
eloquence and the beauties of poetry. The lessons of Bunker 
Hill, however, will bear repetition ; and unfortunate will it 
be for our land should the day ever come when they lose 
their interest and their sio:nificance. 



36 ADDKESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

The tidings of the British raid from Boston to Lexington 
and Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, circulated like wild- 
fire through the neighboring country, rousing the sons of 
liberty on every side to hasten to the assistance of their 
aggrieved brethren of the Bay Colony. New Hampshire, 
though she had experienced little direct hardship from the 
aggressions of Britain, and though her government was ad- 
ministered by the friendly hand of one of her own sons, from 
sympathy and principle stood by Massachusetts in the time of 
her trial, and was second to no other colony in promptness 
and patriotic zeal when the call to arms was heard. On the 
morning of the 20th of April, 1775, the roads leading from 
the various sections of that province toward the scene of 
hostilities were fairly alive with men hastening to volunteer 
their services in this new crusade for liberty. From each of 
the principal New Hampshire towns and villages marched a 
strong company, under temporary officers of their own choice ; 
and scarcely a hamlet was unrepresented in the numerous 
body that was soon gathered at the general rendezvous. In 
three days' time about two thousand New Hampshire men 
were assembled in arms at Cambridge.^ They were without 
permanent organization, and had left their fields and work- 
shops clad in the habiliments of their e very-day labor, with 
no military insignia, but every one, with scarce an exception, 
equipped with his trusty firelock. 

The great majority of them were young men, unused to 
military exercise ; but among them were some of mature 
years, who had had experience in arms. The wars with the 
French and Indians were a school in which many of the 
provincials had taken their first lessons in the martial art, 
had received their baptism of fire, and had made themselves 
acquainted with the discipline which prevailed'in the European 
armies. Those who had enjoyed these advantages were natu- 
rally looked to with respect and deference. Prominent among 
them was John Stark, who had acquired celebrity as a cap- 
tain of rangers. Rugged and self-willed, but shrewd and 
fearless, he was a natural leader. Him the popular voice at 

1 Note I. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 37 

once hailed as a suitable commander for the first New Hamp- 
shire regiment ; and so great was his prestige that recruits 
poured in upon him in superabundance. 

James Reed was another veteran soldier of the seven-years 
war, and a patriotic, courageous, God-fearing man. Without 
the popular repute of Stark, he yet possessed qualities that 
inspired confidence in his fitness for command, and he also 
was designated for a colonel's commission. Of the three 
regiments which New Hampshire organized and completed at 
that time, Stark's was the first and Reed's the third ; and both 
were stationed in the vicinity of Boston. 

On the evening of the 16th of June, 1775, Col. William 
Prescott led his detachment of about one thousand men to 
occupy and fortify the height in Charlestown which has since" 
been known as Bunker Hill. A part of his command, to 
which I shall again refer, was composed of New Hampshire 
men. The intrenchments which Prescott's party constructed 
were a square redoubt and breastwork, cast up from the soil 
by the strong arms of his soldiers. They were completed 
during the forenoon of the next day, in spite of a constant 
cannonade from the British shipping and batteries. On the 
south of these earthworks was the village of Charlestown ; 
but on the north the land was open and unoccupied to the 
Mystic River, a distance of nearly one fifth of a mile. 

As soon as the British officers in Boston were apprised of 
this venturesome step on the part of the provincials, a council 
of war was called, at which it was unanimously decided that 
the Americans must be dislodged from their threatening posi- 
tion. Against the judgment of some of his officers. General 
Gage, who had the supreme command, determined to attack 
the works in their front ; and Gen. William Howe was desig- 
nated to take charge of the enterprise. Preparations for the 
movement of the troops were at once begun ; and Prescott 
soon became aware, by the unusual stir and activity in Boston, 
tliat he was about to be attacked. With a soldier's eye he 
could not fail to see that without strong supports he was liable 
to be surrounded by the enemy, when his situation would be 
hopeless ; and he sent repeated requests to General Ward, at 



38 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

Cambridge, for reinforcements. As soon as Ward became 
convinced that Charlestown was the real objective point of 
the British movement, he ordered the New Hampshire regi- 
ments of Stark and Reed to the assistance of Prescott. The 
one was at Medford, and the other near Charlestown Neck. 
Before they could be supplied with ammunition and reach the 
field, the forces of General Howe had crossed over in boats 
from Boston, and landed, under cover of the fire of the 
shipping, at Moulton's Point, in Charlestown. 

At that time Prescott's command in the redoubt had 
become much reduced in numbers by the departure of many 
of his men for various causes. Among those Avho remained 
with him were a company of artillery and a detachment con- 
sisting originally of one hundred and twenty or perhaps 
two hundred men from the Connecticut regiment of General 
Putnam, and commanded by Captain Knowlton. 

Ignorant, of course, how soon the enemy might move 
against his works, and alive to the vital necessity of some 
co-operation without for the protection of his exposed flank, 
Prescott ordered the artillery company to go forth and oppose 
the enemy, and the Connecticut detachment to support the 
artillery. They left the redoubt. The artillery proved ineffi- 
cient ; and Knowlton subsequently posted his detachment, 
probably by General Putnam's direction, behind a low stone 
wall, surmounted by an open wooden fence of two rails, at a 
point about six hundred feet in the rear of the northern end 
of the breastwork, thus filling a fractional part of the unde- 
fended space between the earthworks and the Mystic, but still 
leaving more than an eighth of a mile thereof unoccupied. 

When the two New Hampshire regiments of Stark and 
Reed came upon the ground, it was plain to the practised eyes 
of their officers that this unoccujjfted space was the chief 
source of danger to the Americans. They therefore com- 
pleted the line of defence from the intrenchmentg to the 
river by stationing their regiments behind a rail fence that 
ran in that direction. To give it the appearance, of greater 
strength, they rested the materials of another fence against 
the first, and stuffed newly mown hay between them. The 



ADDEESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 39 

fence extended to the high bank of the river, beneath which 
was a sandy shore wide enough for the passage of several 
men abreast. Across it they hastily threw together a loose 
wall of stones down to the water's edge. Behind this rail 
fence and stone screen the hardy sons of New Hampshire 
were posted, and thus closed the perilous gap on the left of 
the American line.^ 

These preparations consumed some time, during which 
General Howe was making his dispositions for the assault. 
His force consisted of eleven ^ companies of grenadiers, as 
many of light infantry, five line-battalions, and a proportion 
of field artillery. He chose the grenadiers and light infantry, 
the Hite of the several regiments from which they were de- 
tached, to form a storming party against the American lines 
between the earthworks and the Mystic, and of them he took 
the command in person. His other five battalions were 
ordered to act against the earthworks, under the direction of 
his brigadier. General Pigot. 

Howe did not fail to perceive that the line extending to the 
Mystic was the key of the American position. If he could 
penetrate that obstacle, the rear of the earthworks would 
be gained, and their capture was inevitable. His plan of 
battle was, while a movement was making against the entire 
American line, for the light infantry in column of sections to 
follow the sandy shore of the Mystic under the high bank, 
and force their way past or through the ranks of the provin- 
cials ; and for the grenadiers, marching on the higher ground 
of the bank, to deploy into line at a suitable distance, and 
advance upon the provincials in front. Before the combined 
onset of the two formidable bodies it was not doubted by the 
English, so contemptuous was their estimate of American sol- 
diership, that the rustic medley would take instant flight from 
their extemporized defences, and thus leave the way open for 
both wings of the British army to encircle the earthworks with 
a wall of steel that must render them an easy conquest. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon, in the lull just before the 
engagement, the scene must have been an imposing one. 

1 Note n. -^ Note IIL 



40 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

The day was warm and sunny, the heavens were cloudless, 
the fields covered in part with ripening grass gently swayed 
by the summer breeze. In the stream rode the proud ships 
of war, their dark hulls and the meteor flag of England, which 
floated from their mast-heads, reflected in the mirror below, 
and their decks alive with sailors, stripped for the work before 
them. On the shore were drawn up the long lines of the 
British troops, with their brilliant uniforms and flashing 
bayonets, and at their head General Howe, attired as for a 
festival, and surrounded by his staff, glittering with military 
trappings. Ranged in front frowned the grim artillery, ready 
to launch from their brazen throats the messengers of death 
upon the hostile lines. 

Inland, on the eminence opposite the left of the British 
formation, rose the sandy ridge of Prescott's earthworks, 
giving no outward sign of the life within. Directly in front 
of the British, and a little retired, were the fences behind 
which lay the New Hampshire troops of Stark and Reed. 
They had only the pretence of discipline which a few days' 
training could impart, but they were not unprepared for the 
ordeal which awaited them. Poorly equipped as they were, 
they were covered by the panoply of a cause which they 
felt to be supremely just. The view of the spectators, who 
crowded the surrounding heights and housetops, must have 
inspired them with a resolve to quit themselves like men ;. 
the approving God-speed of their nearest and dearest, whom 
they had left at their homes among the Granite Hills, still 
lingered in their ears ; and the solemn assurances of their 
spiritual guides that the blessings of Heaven rested upon 
their cause nerved their arms and gave confidence to their 
hearts. 

The ominous silence before the strife is broken by a signal 
from the British commander. The picture starts into life and 
action. The hosts of red-coated soldiery move forward in 
columns, their advance covered by a furious cannonade from 
the artillery, the shipping, and the battery at Copps' Hill in 
Boston. Slowly they take their way under the June sun, — 
a part under General Pigot to attack the earthworks, the re- 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 41 

mainder along the bank and margin of the M3^stic to make a 
simultaneous assault upon the troops at the rail fence. 

It is the latter movement, threatening the regiments of New 
Hampshire, that we now follow. The light infantry in solid 
column pursue their allotted march along the sandy shore ; 
the grenadiers spread into line on the higher ground, and 
pour volleys as they advance into the silent lines before them.^ 
The provincials, in obedience to the cautions of their experi- 
enced officers, reserve their slender stock of ammunition until 
the distance is lessened, so that they can make every shot tell. 
On press the assailants, their confidence redoubled as they 
near their enemy without apparent opposition. " Will the 
cowardly Yankees fly without a shadow of resistance ? " they 
ask themselves. The answer comes as sudden and as fatal as 
a bolt from heaven. A sheet of flame leaps from the whole 
line of the provincials ; and in an instant the front of the 
assailing force, but now so trim and orderly, is changed into 
a mass of prostrate and struggling humanity, shattered and 
helpless. Vainly strive those gallant grenadiers and light 
infantry to make headway against the pitiless storm of fire 
that confronts them. Another and another rank melts before 
it. Human nature is incapable of further enduring a tempest 
so destructive, and the remnants of those proud columns 
hurry out of the reach of the death-dealing fusillade. 

But with disciplined soldiers a repulse is not a defeat. 
British pride in the invincibility of their arms is roused. The 
high-spirited officers reform the thinned ranks, appeal to the 
national honor and pluck, and bring their men a second time 
to the attack. 

Again the provincials behind the fences defer all reply to 
the fire of the British until they come within the same short 
range. But when the fatal line is once more reached, the 
same torrent of leaden rain breaks forth anew, and decimates 
again' and again the staggering ranks of the assailants. With 
the obstinacy of their race and a dogged determination to 
carry their point, they hold their ground, and strive with 
desperation to advance; but the carnage inflicted by the 

1 Note IV. 



42 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

defenders of that frail barrier is so frightful and continuous 
that further persistence means mere butchery, and a second 
time the lessened columns of the assailants rush out of the 
terrific slaughter, and are with difficulty rallied. 

By these two bloody repulses General Howe is convinced 
that he cannot force his way by the shore of the Mystic, and 
is driven to change his tactics. He resolves now to bring in 
front of the American left wing only a force sufficient to hold 
the provincials there in check, and to throw the entire residue 
of the force under his orders against the other portion of the 
American line. He frees the troops from the incumbrance 
of their knapsacks and directs Pigot, who has twice led his 
battalions without effect against the earthworks simultane- 
ously with the assaults upon the rail fence, to push his men 
forward in column, without firing or an instant's pause, until 
they reach the works.^ Reinforcements have opportunely 
arrived ; and General Clinton appears from Boston, and puts 
himself at their head. 

The new manoeuvre is successful. The breastwork being 
enfiladed by cannon, and the redoubt assaulted on three sides, 
its garrison, thinned in numbers, weakened by hunger and 
toil, and become weaponless by the exhaustion of their ammu- 
nition, by order of their commander sullenly retreat fighting ; 
and the dear-bought intrenchments are thronged with the 
victorious enemy. But the defenders of the rail fence and 
the shore of the Mystic still retain their position ; and not 
until their compatriots at the redoubt make good their retreat 
do they quit the line they so resolutely held, and retire.^ The 
British make no pursuit. 

Though the battle of Bunker Hill was a technical defeat, 
it was a moral victory, for the Americans. ' More than once 
afterward during the war its impression and influence on the 
minds of the British commanders operated powerfully to save 
the little patriot army of the Americans from disaster, if not 
from annihilation. The prodigious havoc wrought by the fire 
of the provincials' musketry amazed and appalled their adver- 

1 Note V. 2 Note VI. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 43 

saries, and changed their contempt for the fighting capacity 
of the colonists into a wholesome respect for their dogged 
persistency and efficiency in the use of arms. The slaughter 
of the Britons, in view of their numbers and of the duration 
of the action, was well-nigh unexampled. At least one in 
every three of the assailing force was killed or wounded, and 
this mainly by the fire of small-arms alone, for the American 
artillery was of little value. The time occupied by the engage- 
ment was an hour and a half, from which should be deducted 
the intervals occupied' by two successive retreats and rallies. 

The whole number of casualties suffered by the Americans 
was only about three sevenths of the aggregate of those of 
the British. This includes, not only those caused by the fire 
of small-arms, but also those due to the cannonade for hours 
kept up by the artillery from the shipping and from Boston, 
which was especially galling at the Charlestown Neck, over 
which all the provincials were obliged to pass. 

Remarkable as is this contrast between the total losses of 
the contending parties, still more astonishing is that between 
the loss of the defenders of the rail fence and Mystic shore 
and that of their particular antagonists. The two New 
Hampshire regiments, constituting more than four fifths of 
the force which held that line, went into the action about nine 
hundred strong, and lost, according to returns made at the 
time, ninety-three men, — a little above one in every ten.^ 
The loss of the twenty-two companies of grenadiers and light 
infantry in their successive onslaughts on that part of the 
American line, as calculated on tlie basis of actual returns, 
was not less than five hundred and fifty-one of their eight hun- 
dred and fifty-eight men, — nearly two of every three of their 
whole number, and almost double the average of the entire 
British casualties. It is safe to say that the execution done 
by the fire of the Americans at this Aceldama, this veritable 
field of blood, was proportionately more than fivefold greater 
than that of the select British companies.^ 

How is this prodigious disparity in losses to be accounted 
for ? Not, surely, by the assumption that the Americans were 

1 Note VII. 2 Note VIII. 



44 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

sheltered, while their opponents were wholly exposed ; for 
the rail fences afforded only the shadow of protection against 
bullets. The true explanation is found in the marksmanship 
of the Americans and the ignorance of their antagonists of 
the art of accurate shooting. The former always took exact 
aim, and could send their bullets true to the mark. To their 
skill is to be ascribed the greater mortality among the British 
officers. Their " handsome coats " and airs of command 
rendered them especially conspicuous targets for the sharp- 
shooting provincials. On the other hand, a large proportion 
of the bullets of the British flew high above the ranks of 
their opponents, and shattered the branches of the trees 
over their heads. 

The reason for this difference of skill in the use of firearms 
between the two peoples is not far to seek. For centuries 
before this time laws had been in force in Britain which pro- 
hibited all persons, except those enjoying a special property 
qualification, from killing game. The practical operation of 
this legislation was to preclude every one who did not belong 
to the higher ranks of society from all sport with the gun. 
Whole generations had passed away without the slightest 
acquaintance with firearms. Of the class from which the 
army was chiefly recruited, not one in a hundred had ever 
held a musket in his hand before taking the King's shilling. 
The soldiery received practically no instruction how to acquire 
accuracy in sliooting, and when brought into action fired 
without taking particular aim. 

But from the necessities of their situation, the colonists 
had to familiarize themselves from their childhood with the 
use of firearms. Game was free to all, and a main resource 
for food. On their skill as marksmen depended their subsis- 
tence and not seldom their personal security." No man walked 
the woods witliout his gun by his side, and shooting-matches 
and hunting-parties were their favorite diversions. Wlien 
the rustic soldiers of Stark and Reed disposed themselves 
behind the grass-lined fences, each one prepared his loop-hole 
or rest to enable him to take exact aim ; and he would have 
been a poor marksman who was not at the distance of eight 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 45 

or ten rods morally sure of hitting an object far smaller 
than the body of a man. 

The vitally important service which the New Hampshire 
troops rendered at Bunker Hill is wholly attributable to the 
destructive efficiency of their fire ; but for that, it is no dis- 
credit to them to say that they could never have held their 
ground. Not that they had not abundant spirit and bodily 
vigor; but the troops opposed to them were picked men, 
armed and familiar with the bayonet, their pride and boast. 
Could they have once reached the lines of the provincials, the 
latter, without bayonets or any other weapons of defence at 
close quarters, could not have stood a moment before them. 
Had it not been for the close, rapid, continuous, exact shoot- 
ing of the provincials who held the ground between the ' 
intrenchments and the Mystic, by which the British advance 
was simply paralyzed, I do not see how the battle could have 
been prolonged above half an hour. 

And when the brave defenders of the earthworks Avere 
overpowered and compelled to retire, they would have been 
completely at the mercy of the victors, had not their country- 
men at the rail fence maintained their position, and held the 
enemy in check. Without that formidable rear-guard, the 
party that had quitted the redoubt in disorder and with empty 
muskets must have been destroyed or captured. The British 
were well aware that they could not follow too closely upon 
the retreating foe without bringing upon their backs an enemy 
that they had twice found invincible in their front, and they 
chose rather to relinquish their prey. So the remains of 
Prescott's command were enabled to perfect their retreat. 
The New Hampshire regiments and their comrades behind 
that frail apology for a cover were never defeated in the 
battle. They simply quitted a position which had become 
untenable, and marched miconquered from the ground which 
their valor had made famous for all time.^ 

The men who maintained so tenacious a grip upon the rail 
fence consisted of the detachment from Putnam's Connecticut 
regiment already mentioned, uuder Knowlton, together with 

1 Note IX. 



46 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

a company of Spencer's Connecticut regiment, under Captain 
Chester, which appeared and took part in the action shortly 
before it terminated ; a small but unascertained number of 
Massachusetts men ; and the two New Hampshire regiments, 
the only entire American regiments on the field. The great 
bulk of the defenders of that critical point in the line of 
battle were unquestionably, in the words of one of their num- 
ber on a subsequent occasion, "full-blooded Yankees from 
New Hampshire." And it was they alone who closed the 
dangerous pass by the Mystic shore with an impenetrable wall 
of fire. Without the mighty co-operation of the regiments of 
Stark and Reed, what could have saved the Americans from 
speedy and utter rout ? 

Justice requires that another body of New Hampshire men, 
smaller in number, but no less faithful to duty, who were 
stationed in the redoubt, and took part in constructing and 
defending it, should not be forgotten on this occasion. Their 
names were borne on the rolls of Massachusetts regiments, 
into which they enlisted from the New Hampshire towns of 
which they were citizens. Among them was an entire com- 
pany of fifty-nine men in Colonel Prescott's regiment, under 
the command of Capt. Reuben Dow, all of Hollis. As many 
more New Hampshire men were members of the same or of 
Frye's regiment. That all or nearly all these were actively 
engaged in the battle, their loss of eight killed and nine 
wounded attests.^ The exact value of their service cannot be 
so well measured as that of their fellow-provincials at the 
rail fence and the shore of the Mystic; but their meed of 
honor, whatever it be, inures equally to the credit of the 
province to which they belonged. 

The story of New Hampshire at Bunker Hill would be but 
half told if it were to omit a description of the leading men 
who were among the combatants. They were of the promi- 
nent moving spirits of the American Revolution, and imparted 
their own patriotic fervor and constancy to those about them. 
If they had been wanting in the hour of danger, all would 

1 Note X. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 47 

have been lost. Their faith, their firmness, their courage 
were potent factors to control the fortunes of the battle. 
Their history is the exponent of the spirit of Bunker Hill. 
Of two of them the earthly record closed on that eventful 
day. 

Andeew McClary was the major of Stark's regiment. In 
his veins ran the fighting Scotch-Irish blood. He was a man 
of heroic mould, — physically of lofty stature and handsome 
face and figure, and in disposition independent, daring, a true 
son of liberty. At his public-house in Epsom the bolder 
spirits of the countryside had been used to resort for the dis- 
cussion of the political troubles of the time. The news of 
the collision between tlie British regulars and the " embattled - 
farmers " at Concord reached him while he was ploughing in 
his field, and he delayed not a moment to start for the scene 
of action. His popular talents, his high courage, and his de- 
votion to his country's cause pointed him out for responsible 
military command ; and his appointment was amply justified 
by his behavior on this his first and last battle-field. His 
clarion voice uttering words of encouragement and cheer 
rose above the din of the conflict, and roused his soldiers to 
redoubled efforts. After the retreat, " as attentive to the 
wants of his men as desperate in fighting them," he hurried 
off to Medford to procure dressings for the wounded. On his 
return, as he was engaged in reconnoitring the enemy, a 
chance shot from the shipping set loose as gallant a soul as ^ 
ever contended in the cause of liberty. 

Isaac Baldwin, a captain in Stark's regiment, was an 
Inhabitant of Hillsborough. He had served in Rogers's 
famous rangers in the French and Indian wars, and is said 
to have fought in twenty engagements. Immediately upon 
hearing of the battle of Lexington he raised a band of volun- 
teers, and marched to Cambridge. His military experience 
and known capacity for command secured him a full company 
of the men from his own vicinity. In the midst of the battle 
of Bunker Hill, while animating them by his voice and exam- 



48 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

pie, he was pierced in the breast by a musket-ball, and borne 
from the field by two of his townsmen. With the going down 
of the sun his own life's day came to an end. Many a manly 
tear was shed when Baldwin fell. 

William Scott, one of Stark's lieutenants, was of Scotch- 
Irish lineage, and belonged to Peterborough. His life was as 
full of adventure as that of one of the paladins of old. At the 
age of seventeen he saw service in the French war, in the New 
Hampshire regiment of Colonel Goffe. In the peace which 
followed he established the reputation of being a mighty 
hunter of the wild beasts of the forest. His daring disposi- 
tion carried him to the spot which promised fighting, and he 
was given a commission, probably in one of Stark's super- 
numerary companies. He was not the man to miss the pleas- 
ure of a battle, and of course he was at Bunker Hill. In the 
earlier part of the engagement one of the bones of his leg 
was fractured by a ball. But this did not incapacitate him 
for duty, and he continued to trim the bullets to fit the bore 
of his men's guns. Nor did it repress his indomitable sense 
of grim humor. " The chaplain prayed that our heads might 
be sheltered in the hour of battle," said he. " My head is safe 
enough ; his prayer should have extended to the rest of the 
body." He continued fighting manfully till on the retreat he 
received four other wounds, and fell fainting to the ground. 
When he recovered his consciousness, a British soldier was 
standing over him, who asked him with an oath wh}^ he did 
not deserve to be killed. " I am in your power," said Scott, 
" and you can do with me as you please." He was saved by 
the interposition of a British officer, and confined as a pris- 
oner in jail until the evacuation of Boston, the following 
March. Then he was taken to Halifax, and there incarcer- 
ated. Furnished by a friendly hand with a gimlet, a bayonet, 
and a knife, he and six companions undermined the wall of 
their prison and made their escape, and eventually 'returned 
to Boston, then in the possession of the patriots. 

True to his instinct to find his way to the place' of danger, 
Scott was in the following November serving in the garrison 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 49 

of Fort Washington, when it was carried by assault and sur- 
rendered to the British. But in the following night he suc- 
ceeded in regaining his liberty by swimming the Hudson River, 
his sword tied to the back of his neck, and his watch fastened 
to his hatband. In December, 1776, he was commissioned 
captain in Colonel Cilley's regiment of the New Hampshire 
line, and served throughout the war. He received repeated 
promotions for his gallantry and good conduct, and was in 1782 
major-commandant of one of the New Hampshire battalions. 
In 1792 he was capsized in a boat in the river near Phila- 
delphia by a violent squall, with nine other persons, of whom 
four were children, and none able to swim except himself. 
By almost superhuman exertions he succeeded in saving them 
all. He made his way first to the shore with one child hang- 
ing round his neck and one clinging to each arm, and then 
returned through the boisterous waves to the boat, on which 
the others had taken refuge, and brought them successively 
safe to land. 

The termination of Scott's eventful life was caused by 
exposure on an errand of mercy. In 1796 he was, when in 
impaired health, engaged with a party in surveying lands 
near Lake Erie. They were attacked by lake fever, and Scott 
returned with a division of the sick to Port Stanwix. Finding 
it difficult to procure any person to go back to succor the 
sufferers left behind in the wilderness, he determined to do so 
in person, against the remonstrances of his physician, who 
declared that he could never return alive. " My life," said 
Scott, " is no better than theirs." He rescued the sick men, 
hut in so doing he sacrificed himself, and died in ten days 
after his return from his heroic undertaking. 

The history of John Stark is familiar. His character as 
a soldier may be read in his words spoken while leading his 
regiment over Charlestown Neck to Bunker Hill. It was 
-dangerous ground, for the cannon of the enemy were pouring 
their sliot upon it without ceasing. One of his captains 
urged that the regiment should quicken their step. " One 
fresh man in action is worth ten tired ones," replied Stark, 



50 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

and continued his march at the same deliberate pace. His 
conduct in the battle was marked by the same calm intre- 
pidity. Ammunition was scarce and precious, and only a gill 
of powder and fifteen bullets liad been supplied to each of his 
men. That their fire might not be wasted, he is said to have 
set up a mark in the ground at a short gunshot distance in 
front of his line, and warned his men not to pull a trigger 
until it should be reached by the enemy. 

At the capture of Rail and his Hessians at Trenton, the first 
gleam of victory that shone upon the American arms under 
Washington, Stark led his regiment in the van of one of the 
columns. Three months later he took offence at the promo- 
tion by Congress of a junior officer over his head, and 
resigned his commission. But he was of too valuable stuff 
to lie idle when his country was in trouble. Another three 
months had scarcely expired before the descent of Burgoyne 
from Canada at the head of a powerful and admirably ap- 
pointed army aroused apprehensions, which were quickened 
into dismay and terror when Ticonderoga,, the boasted strong- 
hold of the north, was evacuated in hot haste on his approach. 
New Hampshire then summoned Stark from his retirement, 
put him in command of a brigade, and sent him to the post 
of danger. He found the enemy, and cried to his men, " We 
must beat the redcoats, or my wife sleeps a widow to-night." 
The victory of Bennington was the turning-point of the Revo- 
lution. It stemmed the tide of invasion, and led directly to 
the capture of Burgoyne and his army. Congress recognized 
the value of Stark's services by promotion, and he succeeded 
in the last year of the war to the command of the army of 
the North. When peace was won, he retired upon his farm, 
and there lived to become the last survivor of the American 
general officers of the Revolution. 

James Reed, the colonel of the third New Hampshire 
regiment, was a resident of Fitzwilliam, and had* hastened 
at the first alarm with a company of more than fifty of his 
townsmen to Cambridge. As the commander of a regiment 
he proved liimself to have a comprehension of his duties as a 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 51 

disciplinarian rare in that stage of the war. In the battle of 
Bunker Hill he performed his duty without display, but with 
fidelity and quiet courage. He is said to have been the last 
officer to- leave the field. After the evacuation of Boston he 
led his regiment to Canada to reinforce the American troops 
that were on the retreat from Quebec. At Crown Point he 
was attacked with fever, the result of exposure and hardship, 
and, probably from want of suitable attendance, suffered the 
loss of his sight. From this, the heaviest privation of life, 
there was no recovery ; and though Congress had conferred 
upon him the rank of brigadier-general, he was compelled to 
bid adieu to the camp and the battle-field forever. He lived 
many years after ; and it was a touching spectacle to see him 
and a friend of his own advanced age, who was partially dis-. 
abled by paralysis, walking the streets of Keene together. 
The blind supplied feet to the lame, and the lame furnished 
eyes to the blind. 

Next in consequence and in influence to the chief officer of 
a regiment ranked in those days the chaplain. Rev. Samuel 
McClintock — afterward D.D., before that title had become 
cheapened by being so commonly conferred — held that office 
in Stark's regiment. A graduate of Princeton College, his 
high scholarship brought him the offer of an appointment as 
tutor; but he preferred to fit himself for the gospel ministry. 
For forty-eight years he was the pastor of the town of Green- 
land, notwithstanding repeated offers of positions esteemed 
more eligible, and certainly more lucrative. In teaching his 
parishioners the way to heaven, he did not forget the virtues 
of courage and patriotism. His discourses were redolent of 
the spirit of liberty. Nor was he the kind of shepherd to 
send his flock into dangers that he was unwilling to share. 
When the order came for his regiment to proceed to Bunker 
Hill, he marched with tliem, ready not only to soothe the last 
moments of the dying, but also to set a manly example to the 
living. We do not learn that he fought with carnal weapons ; 
but we cannot doubt that lie infused his own confident and 
dauntless spirit into liis men, and heartened them for the 



52 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H, BELL. 

combat. In TrumbulFs great painting of the battle, in which 
his purpose evidently was to include the principal characters 
present rather than to depict the scene as it actually appeared, 
this valiant servant of God is fitly represented in the thickest 
of the fray. 

Nathan Hale, who bore the same name, and was, I believe, 
of kindred blood, with the youthful hero whose tragic fate 
saddens the early annals of the Revolutionary contest, was 
the major of Reed's regiment. He too was among the fore- 
most at Cambridge at the head of a body of minute-men. 
He served with credit at Bunker Hill, in Canada, at Trenton 
and Princeton, and established his character as a resolute 
and efficient officer. Upon the retirement of Colonel Reed and 
the reorganization of the regiment, in 1777, Hale succeeded 
to its command. Stationed at Ticonderoga under General 
St. Clair, he Avas involved iu the misfortunes attending the 
evacuation of that post when threatened by Burgoyne. 

Colonel Hale's regiment was in the rear-guard of the 
column which withdrew from the fort on the eastern side of 
Lake Champlain, and was ordered to cover the retreat of the 
invalids', who were very numerous. Through no fault of his, 
they fell some miles in the rear of the main body, and were 
suddenly and furiously attacked at an early hour in the morn- 
ing by General Fraser, supported by General Riedesel, with 
some of the choicest of Bnrgoyne's troops. The result was 
the dispersion of his regiment, and the capture of himself 
and several of his officers and nearly one hundred of his sol- 
diers. It was a time when suspicion Avas rife against the best 
men. Hale's misfortune was attributed by envious tongues to 
cowardice or incapacity. No sooner did he hear of these im- 
putations than he demanded from the commander-in-chief an 
opportunity to vindicate his conduct before a military tribunal. 
But he was a prisoner of the enemy, and the privilege of con- 
fronting his accusers was never his. He died in -captivity in 
1780. It is due to his memory to add that the charges against 
him have been fully refuted by modern historians, and his 
reputation has been vindicated from every iniurious aspersion. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 53 

The biography of Henry Deaeborn, who was a captain in 
Stark's regiment, is a part of the history of the country for 
half a century. He was an officer in Arnold's daring and 
adventurous expedition to Quebec, was taken prisoner at the 
attack of the city under the gallant Montgomery, distinguished 
himself in the battles which wrought the surrender of Bur- 
goyne, accompanied Sullivan on his expedition against the 
Indians in 1779, and took part in the campaign which culmi- 
nated in the fall of Yorktown. Later he was Jefferson's 
Secretary of War, and senior major-general of the army of 
the United States. 

I have no time to do more than name a few others of the 
men of sterling character who represented New Hampshire 
on the battle-field of Bunker Hill. Israel Oilman, Isaac 
Wyman, George Reid, Stephen Peabody, Michael McClary, 
and others, who might with equal propriety be included, 
though not known so widely as some of those I have de- 
scribed, like them diffused the leaven of patriotism through 
the communities in which they dwelt, and cheerfully risked 
all upon the issue of the struggle for freedom. They surely 
deserve not to be passed by in silence in reckoning the ele- 
ments of strength which their province contributed to resist 
the disciplined legions of Britain on their errand of conquest. 

The stately obelisk which stands sentinel over the historic 
battle-ground seems to me fitly built of imperishable granite, 
the emblem of the province whose stalwart sons took so 
leading a part in rendering the spot worthy of a monument. 

I fear that in the endeavor to do full justice to New Hamp- 
shire, I may have seemed to belittle the invaluable services 
performed by her sister colonies of Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut at Bunker Hill. Nothing could be further from my 
intention. 

It was the fortune of Connecticut to furnisli the least 
number of men on the occasion. But her Putnam, her 
Durkee, her Knowlton, her Chester, her Webb more than 
compensated for the lack of su])erior numbers. Her troops 



54 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

were on the line of greatest exposure, by the side of those of 
New Hampshire, and participated with them in the intrepid 
stand made against the flower of the British army. 

Massachusetts, too, "needs no encomium." Prescott, Grid- 
ley, Pomeroy, Gardner, Parker, Moore, and above all Warren, 
— that dauntless hero, whose fervid utterances, from a soul in- 
stinct with the love of liberty, have waked the echoes of these 
hallowed walls,^ — Warren, who proved in his own person 
how pleasant and honorable was death to him who fell in 
defence of his country, — these are names that will ever be 
associated with the memory of Bunker Hill. The troops of 
Massachusetts, both those who toiled the livelong night to 
raise the intrenchments and those who came in from her 
various organizations to aid in defending them, fought strenu- 
ously till their means of resistance failed. Then, overborne 
by British bayonets, they reluctantly quitted the ground, but 
not until they had done enough for lasting fame. 

Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, whatever 
the inequality in their several contributions to the battle, are 
equal partners in the glory of Bunker Hill. 

1 The Address was delivered in the Old South Church. 



NOTES TO MR. BELL'S ADDEESS. 



I. Page 36. — The Xumber of New Hampshire Volunteers assem- 

bled AT Cambridge after the news froji Lexington and 
Concord. 

See letter of Andrew McClary, dated Cambridge, April 23, 1775. 
7 Nexv Hampshire Provincial Papers, 460. 

II. Page 39. — The Position of the New Hampshire Regiments 
AT THE Rail Fence and Mystic Shore. 

Potter's Military History of New Hampshire, 270, 271. 13 Historical 
Magazine, 344. Dearborn's Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Plans of 
De Berniere and Page. 

III. Page 39. — Number of Companies of British Light Infantry 
AND Grenadiers. 

The British " morning orders," as they appear in the orderly-book of 
Adjutant Waller, required "the ten oldest companies of grenadiers and 
light infantry (exclusive of the 35th and 49th regiments, just arrived) " 
to parade, etc. (Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 130). It has been assumed 
by writers, without an exception that I remember, that this was the actual 
number of companies in the assault on the American left. But an in- 
spection of De Berniere's plan shows that there were eleven companies 
of light infantry there engaged, one of which was that of the 35th regi- 
ment, which had been excepted in " morning orders," because it had just 
arrived. This is confirmed iu the case of Edward Drewe,. 13 Historical 
Magazine, 368. The "return of losses " indicates that both that and the 
grenadier company of the 35th regiment were in the action ; for the loss 
of the o5th regiment was 69, nearly double the entire number of the 
light infantry company, and we know the "battalion " (that is, the line 
companies) of the 35th were not in the action. The loss must therefore 
have been in the light infantry and grenadiers. The number of light 
infantry and grenadier companies in that part of the field, therefore, must 
have been eleven of each. 

See also the plan in Swett's A.ccount of tie Battle. 



56 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

IV. Page 41. — The March and Attack of the British Light 
Infantry and Grenadiers. 

The contemporaneous plans of the battle by De Berniere and Page 
delineate exactly the course which each of these corps followed, the 
former plan representing the companies of light infantry in column on 
the Mystic beach, with the numbers of the regiments to which they 
belonged. Mr. Frothingham declares these plans to be entitled to entire 
confidence, in Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society, June 10, 
1875, page 60. 

See also 13 Historical Magazine, 344. Gage's Report of the Battle. 
1 Wilkinson's Memoirs, 845. Frothingham's Siege of Boxton, 141. 

Y. Page 42. — Howe's Change of Plan of Attack. 

Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 148. 1 Wilkinson's Memoirs, 846. 

>. 

VI. Page 42. — The Troops at the Hail Fence remained till 
those from the Redoubt effected their Retreat. 

Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 151, 152. 1 Wilkinson's Memoirs, 847. 
7 Bancroft's History of the United States, 430. 

VII. Page 43. — Strength of the New Hampshire Regiments. 
The official return of Reed's regiment, June 14, 1775, three days before 

the battle, shows that it then contained, effectives fit for duty, 488 men ; 
sick, absent, unfit, and on command, 149 men. The provision return of 
Stark's regiment, July 1, 1775, shows that it then contained 794 men. 
These are the nearest returns, in point of time, to the battle, now to be 
found. The loss of Stark's regiment in the battle was 15 killed and 45 
wounded. Assuming that one half the wounded were back in the ranks 
by July 1, there would be the number of the killed (15) and the other 
half of the wounded (22), which should be added to the 794 to make the 
number what it was at the beginning of the battle: 794-)-15-(-22^831. 
Deducting from this total a number proportioned to that returned in 
Reed's regiment for the sick, etc., say 194, we have remaining, effectives 
fit for duty, 637. The number of effectives fit for duty on the day of 
the battle must have been, — 

In Stark's regiment 637 men 

" Reed's '■ '. 488 " 



1,125 " 

The estimate, therefore, that the two regiments went in 900 strong is 
certainly not too high, perhaps not high enough. 

See on this subject 31 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 
35.. 1 Proceedings of New Hampshire Historical Society, 359. 14 Neio 
Hampshire Provincicd Papers, 41, 42. 



NOTES. 57 

VILI. Page 43. — Numbers and Losses of the British Light 
Infantry and Grenadiers. 

Thei'e were eleven companies of each led against the Americans at the 
Mystic shore and the rail fence, as is shown in Note IIL The strength 
of each company was 39 or 40 men when complete (Clarke's Impartial and 
AutJiPiitic Narratioe, 15 ; Detail and Conduct of the American War, 13). 
Of course the companies were not always full when they went into action. 
The light infantry company of the 35th regiment had at Banker Hill 38 
men (The Case of Edward Dreioe, 13 Historical Magazine, 368). Assum- 
ing the companies to have had a uniform strength of 39 men each, the 
aggregate number in 22 companies would have been 858 men. 

The light infanti-y companies referred to were those of the 4th, 5th, 
10th, 23d, 35th, 38th, 43d, 47th, 52d, 59th, and 65th regiments; and the 
grenadier companies were doubtless from the same regiments. The 5th, 
38th, 43d, 47th, and 52d regiments were in the battle ; and their losses 
were returned aggregated, without distinguishing those suffered by their 
light infantry and grenadier companies. But of the 4th, 10th, 23d, 35th^ 
59th, and 65th regiments only the light infantry and grenadier companies 
were in the action ; and their losses form a basis from which a calculation 
can be made of the losses of the remaining light infantry and grenadiers 
which cannot be far wrong. The losses specially returned of the light 
infantry and grenadiers are as follows : — 

4th regiment, 14 killed, 35 wounded 49 

lOth " 7 " 46 " 53 

23d " 14 " 42 " 56 

35th " 19 " 50 " 69 

59th '^ 6 " 26 '■ 32 

65th " 10 " 32 " 42 

Total, in 12 companies, out of (12x39) 468 men . ... 301 

A like proportion in the 22 companies would make their losses 551 out 
of 858 men, or nearly two out of every three. These prodigious losses 
are partially confirmed by other testimony. Clarke states that all the 
grenadiers of the 4th regiment were killed or wounded except four, and 
all those of the 23d regiment except three (Clarke's Narratioe, 15). 
" Most of our grenadiers and light infantry, the moment of presenting 
themselves, lost three fourths and many nine tenths of their men. Some 
had only eight or nine men a company left ; some, only three, four, and 
five" (Detail and Conduct of American War). Of the light company of 
the 35th regiment, 10 were killed and 25 wounded; only 3 escaped unhurt 
(Historical Magazine, 369). Gen. John Winslow stated that he visited 
the field the day after the battle, and counted ninety-six men dead on the 
beach that had not been removed when he arrived (13 Historical Magazine, 
418). 



58 ADDRESS OE HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 

IX. Page 45. — The Troops at the Rail Fence saved the rest 
FROM Destruction. 

The courage and conduct of the provincials that opposed the light 
infantry saved their compatriots, who were overpowered and were obliged 
to retreat from the fort, and who must otherwise have been cut off; as 
the enemy, but for such opposition, would have been instantly upon the 
back of the redoubt (2 Gordon's History of American War, 46; 1 Botta's 
History of American War, 206). The little handful of brave men (from 
the redoubt) would have been effectually cut off but for the unfailing 
courage of the provincials at the rail fence and the bank of the Mystic. 
They had repulsed the enemy twice ; they now held them in check till 
the main body had left the hill. Not till then did the Connecticut com- 
panies under Knowlton and the New Hampshire soldiers under Stark 
quit the station which they had " nobly defended." 

7 Bancroft's History of the United States, 430. Frothingham's Siege of 
Boston, 151. Peter Thacher's Narration, 13 Historical Magazine, 383. 

X. Page 46. — Number and Losses of New Hampshire Men in 
Massachusetts Regiments. 

1 Proceedings of New Hampshire Historical Society, 359, etc. 14 Neio 
Hampshire Provincial Papers, 39, etc. 



